Home/Health/Testa ‘doubles’ prices at Supercharger stations – but says will ‘never be a profit centre'

Testa ‘doubles’ prices at Supercharger stations – but says will ‘never be a profit centre'

A spokesman for the company said it is committed to ensuring “that Supercharger will never be a profit centre.”

Tesla say that the company was founded on the principle that Supercharging will always remain significantly cheaper than gasoline.

This week prices were updated across the US and some states saw a 100 per cent increase, although most regions saw rates rise by 20 to 40 per cent.

The northwest state of Oregon saw an increase of $0.12 to $0.24 per kWh, while New York’s rate went from $0.19 to $0.24 per kWh.

In California, Tesla’s biggest market in the US, prices increased from $0.20 to $0.26 kWh.

Tesla owners have access to the Supercharger network 24-hours a day but some customers are given annual Supercharger credits whereas others have to use the pay-per-use model.

Model S and X receive 400 kWh – around 1000 miles – of Supercharger credits annually whereas owners of the Model 3 does not receive annual credits and need to pay for what they use.

Prices vary from per kWh charged or per minute of use at a Supercharger station depending on the state or country you are in.

A Tesla spokesman said: “We occasionally adjust rates to reflect current local electricity and usage.

“The overriding principle is that Supercharging will always remain significantly cheaper than gasoline, as we only aim to recover a portion of our costs while setting up a fair system for everyone.

“This will never be a profit center for Tesla.”

Superchargers currently rely on local power and so operating costs are mostly linked to local electricity rates, however, CEO Elon Musk has previously said that Tesla plan to to disconnect “almost all” Superchargers from the grid and go solar and batteries.

The price increases at Supercharger stations could be down to more Model 3 customers using the network.

This week Tesla could have solved one of the biggest problems with the Tesla Model 3 as it announced production had been halted to improve “automation and systematically address bottlenecks in order to increase production rates.”